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‘Hunkkaar’ Explores India’s Attitudes Through A Procedural Lens
Welcome to Global Breakouts, Deadline’s strand in which, each fortnight, we shine a spotlight on the TV shows and films killing it in their local territories. The industry is as globalized as it’s ever been, but breakout hits are appearing in pockets of the world all the time and it can be hard to keep track… So, we’re going to do the hard work for you.
This week, we’re back in India, where streaming audiences have been digesting the meaning of Hunkkaar (known locally as Hunkkaar: The Roar), a miniseries about teenage girl who accuses a powerful spiritual leader of sexual assault, triggering a chain of reaction that becomes a national story. Executive produced by Priyanka Chopra, it explores the balance between power, faith, truth and justice in modern day India.
Name: Hunkkaar
Country: India
Streamer: JioHotstar
Producers: Applause Entertainment, Birla Studios, Purple Pebble Pictures, Mangata Films
Distributor: Applause Entertainment (rights holder)
For fans of: Mindhunter, Spotlight, David Fincher films
Hunkkaar is a very modern Indian miniseries. While the country’s Bollywood machine continues apace, favoring melodramatic stories, this JioHotstar program has challenged its audience – and wider society, by extension – to really think about the nature of life in the country.
“We were very intentional about taking a non-melodramatic approach to trauma,” says co-creator Karan D. Kapadia. “I love Bollywood’s melodrama genre, but we wanted to look at trauma in a grounded way.”
The trauma he refers to underpins the story. It follows a 17-year-old girl, Meenu Rawat (Aneet Padda), who accuses Baapji (Sunil Chakosi), a powerful ‘godman’ (cult-like Indian spiritual leaders whose supporters can revere them as demi-gods) of sexual assault. The case becomes national news, with Meenu supported by a small group of police officers, advocates and TV journalists as she is publicly slut-shamed and put on trial by the media.
The idea for the show began years earlier. “We came across a powerful article about a godman who had created an industrial-scale system of sexual abuse,” says Kapadia. “He had constructed a world in which his devotees believed that what he was doing to them was not wrong.
“That was the starting point. It led us into deeper questions about how we perceive women, and the fact that rape remains a major social issue in India that needs to be addressed. From there, we developed the David-and-Goliath theme: A 17-year-old from Gen Z taking on a system. The man at the centre of the story eventually represents a level of power comparable to that of the state. We also wanted to explore the arduous road to justice.”
As Kapadia and co-creator Nitya Mehra‘s resulting six-part series developed, Mehra says it became clear Chakosi’s godman character would not just represent a religious leader, but of corrupted power itself, with the cult created as a mirror to power structures in wider society.
“Although the story deals with rape, which is one of the biggest social issues to have plagued India for decades, the godman became something larger than the spiritual leader we initially imagined,” she adds.
Priyanka Chopra’s support
The project had initially gone into development through Kapadia’s Mangata Films label, but received a big shot in the arm when Scam and Black Warrant producer Applause Entertainment boarded to produce and distribute the finished show.
Aditya Birla Group-backed Applause is noted for always producing scripted TV before selling the finished product to a streamer – in effect guaranteeing production will go ahead. Another company in Applause’s extended circle, Ananya Birla’s new firm Birla Studios, also boarded, as did White Tiger and Bajirao Mastani actress and storied producer Priyanka Chopra, who had known Mehra since they worked together on 2006 Hindi pic Don.
Mehra simply calls Chopra “a powerhouse,” recalling how she and her team had immediately boarded the project after seeing a tape.
“I’m always drawn to stories that have depth and meaning, and Hunkkaar: The Roar is one such story,” says Chopra. “It takes on a deeply sensitive subject and tells the story with honesty and conviction. I have immense respect for Nitya and Karan, Applause and the entire team for the thought and care they’ve brought to this project.”
Kapadia and Mehra praise Applause’s Nair, who stepped down in April after nearly a decade as CEO, as “the key person behind the process” of producing without an anchor commissioner. As such, Kapadia says the resulting program has “the potential to travel internationally,” adding: “Without Sameer, we wouldn’t be here. He was a rock for us. He championed the show, enhanced our vision and gave us the space to grow into the filmmakers we are today.”
Deepak Segal, producer at Applause, says: “The success of Hunkkaar: The Roar is a testament to the power of stories that are deeply rooted yet universally felt. We believe the future of Indian storytelling lies in stories that emerge from our local realities, from the ambition of our young nation and travel far beyond them. The brilliant response to Hunkkaar shows us that when a story speaks to something deeply human and can appeal to the hearts of the audience, its horizon can be limitless.”
Shooting was finished by the end of 2024, with local reports then suggesting the series had been delayed when it didn’t immediately launch. That was partly down to Kapadia being a “perfectionist” in the edit, Mehra laughs, but also down to a misunderstanding of Applause’s produce-then-sell model.
“We wanted to take our time, find the right home and make sure it was mounted on the right platform in the way we wanted,” says Kapadia. “It wasn’t really a delay in the traditional sense. We had the show in the bag. The question was how to release it with the kind of marketing and positioning we felt it deserved. It is a luxury to have the time to mount something properly, and the response suggests that the approach worked.”
Ultimately, JioHotstar boarded the series and with the service launching in territories such as Canada and the UK as the show debuted on September 25, Mehra says the timing was serendipitous.
Structurally, what’s notable about Hunkkaar is that it manages to be both a legal procedural following a high-profile case, and a human story about shame, justice and power. Mehra and Kapadia both note during the interview for this article how unexpected the number of people JioHotstar has recorded bingeing through the series was, given the themes. However, it wasn’t all just a happy accident.
“We made a conscious decision in the writers’ room to be aware of the subject matter and the fact that it could become a procedural,” says Mehra. “Structurally, we wanted to bind it together in a way that felt immersive.”
Kapadia – known for producing the likes of Jolly LLB 3, Blank and Durgamati: The Myth – says the approach worked. “Indian audiences are desperate for content that challenges them, moves them and inspires them,” he argues. “When there is a good story, it works.
“The emotional intelligence of the audience is expanding, partly because technology is moving so quickly and hundreds of millions of people have smartphones. The volume of data and content people encounter is exponential. Many viewers have told us, ‘Thank you for trusting us to read between the lines and for not hammering everything over our heads. Thank you for taking the time to articulate the pain.’”
Kapadia and Mehra point to David Fincher’s meticulous approach to filmmaking as a reference point for telling the complex story, while Joe Penhall’s Netflix serial killer series Mindhunter gave them confidence “that it was possible to keep audiences immersed and allow them to sit uncomfortably in a moment,” as Mehra puts it.
Mehra – director of 2016 pic Baar Baar Dekho and creator of Prime Video series Big Girls Don’t Cry – says that while Indian audiences are besieged by films and TV content right now, where Hunkkaar has cut through is in its subject matter.
“One of the victories for Karan and me is receiving messages from people saying they feel seen and represented on screen. We made our previous show about an all-girls boarding school, and girls from small-town India told us they had never seen themselves represented before.
“With Hunkar, young Indians are finding their voice. The world is burning, and people are speaking up. I think this show represents that voice.”
For market-leading Indian streamer JioHotstar, the show represents where domestic TV production in the streaming era is headed. “At JioHotstar, we want to back fresh, distinct voices telling authentic Indian stories, which drive conversations and help shape society,” says Alok Jain, Head of Hindi and English Entertainment for Streaming, TV and Studios at the Reliance- and Disney-backed JioHotstar. “Hunkkaar is exactly that.
“What drew us most was its heart – an ordinary girl who finds extraordinary courage. Meenu is 17 when she walks into a police station and accuses a man her whole town worships. She’s not a conventional hero, and that’s what makes her stand so powerful. It’s also why others find the courage to stand with her.”
Jain praises Mehra and Kapadia for “handled a difficult subject with care and without sensationalism,” and notes Padda “brings a fearless presence to Meenu,” while “Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Birla Studios and Applause backed that vision completely.”
He points to the audience response as evidence – though as ever streamers don’t provide specific ratings details.
“Hunkkaar is one of our most engaging Hindi specials this year, with viewers moving straight from one episode to the next. As JioHotstar expands into new markets, it’s encouraging to see the show trending not just in India, but also in Singapore, the UK and Canada. That’s the kind of storytelling we want to keep investing in – made in India, for the world.”
There are indications of U.S. distribution, so the noise around Hunkkaar could become a roar in the not-too-distant future.
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EXCLUSIVE: Amazon has greenlit a drama series about a newly revived Barneys New York.
The streamer has handed a series order to Bella from Barneys, which comes from Fake Empire founders Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, known for series including Gossip Girl, Susan Rovner and Rachel Kaplan.
Bella from Barneys follows Bella Baldwin, an outer-borough outsider with an eye for style, who lands a job in the stock room of the newly revived Barneys New York. When she talks her way into becoming a personal shopper to the store’s most notorious socialite client, she’s pulled into a cutthroat world of fashion and family secrets, and into the orbit of the heir fighting to save the family business.
Deadline revealed the project was in development last year as part of a new first-look deal between Amazon MGM Studios and Schwartz and Savage. Since then, the pair’s Sterling Point, which they partnered with creator Megan Park on, has become a hit on the streamer and was recently renewed for a second season.
Schwartz and Savage will serve as executive producers alongside Aha Studios’ Susan Rovner and Absecon Entertainment’s Rachel Kaplan as well as Corey Salter, Colin Smeeton, and Matthew Gross, who exec produce for Authentic Studios, the production arm of Barneys owner Authentic Brands Group.
Barneys was a New York institution; a high-end department store that was founded in 1923. After being acquired by Authentic Brands Group, it closed its brick-and-mortars stores but remained as a brand, particularly as a partnership with Saks Fifth Avenue as well as its own beauty line. In 2024, there was also a pop-up Barneys in Soho.
“We’re thrilled to be continuing our partnership with Amazon and are excited for what’s ahead,” said Schwartz and Savage. “The response to Sterling Point has been incredibly gratifying, and we’re so happy to be returning for a second season alongside creator Megan Park and producing partners LuckyChap. At the same time, the opportunity to build the fictional world of Barneys is a dream for us. Barneys was more than a store; it was a New York institution, a cultural touchstone, and a world unto itself. We’re so excited to open those doors along with our partners at Authentic Brands Group, and our fellow producers Susan Rovner and Rachel Kaplan, who we have worked with since the beginning of our careers.”
“Josh and Stephanie at Fake Empire have this rare gift for creating worlds that feel both electric and cozy all at once, and Bella from Barneys is a perfect example,” added Peter Friedlander, Head of Global Television, Amazon MGM Studios. “Barneys New York was more than a department store — it was a fashion institution, and when it closed, people genuinely mourned it. This series brings it roaring back to life in all its impossibly chic glory. Fashion, ambition, and intrigue await inside the doors that our partners Susan, Rachel, and the team at Authentic Brands Group will help reopen.”
“At Authentic, our brands are stories, and Bella from Barneys shows what’s possible when iconic IP meets world-class storytelling. We’re excited to bring its legacy to the screen with Fake Empire. Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, who are unmatched at creating stylish, character-driven drama, are the perfect stewards for the Barneys brand,” said Corey Salter, CEO Entertainment, Authentic.
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EXCLUSIVE: King Richard and Bob Marley: One Love director Reinaldo Marcus Green has launched Office Hours, a new filmmaker fellowship at his alma mater the NYU Tisch School of the Arts. The fellowship has also selected its inaugural class of five filmmakers who are all recent alums or current students in the graduate film program.
The fellowship, created to provide emerging filmmakers with access, mentorship and candid conversation about the creative and professional realities of building a career in film, will bring its fellows together with Green for a series of intimate sessions throughout the academic year on topics like developing a voice, choosing material, working with actors and collaborators, navigating representation and relationships, dealing with setbacks, and building a sustainable career.
This year’s cohort — Alex Jiang, Maissa Lihedheb, Skyla Page, Andre Shen and Taylor Sanghyun Lee — were selected by a committee of filmmakers including Kasi Lemmons, John Tintori, Chiara Bernasconi and Mia Cioffi Henry. (See details about the inaugural class below.)
“When I was coming out of NYU, what I needed as much as anything was access — someone I could call, ask the questions I didn’t know how to ask, and have an honest conversation about what this career actually looks like,” Green said.
He added: “Office Hours is my attempt to create that space for the next generation of filmmakers. These five filmmakers already have extraordinary voices. My job isn’t to tell them what kind of filmmakers to become. It’s to listen, challenge them, share what I’ve learned, and hopefully help them get where they’re trying to go.”
Green directed 2021’s King Richard, the story of the rise of tennis’ Venus and Serena Williams and their father-coach. The pic scored six Oscar nominations including Best Picture, and earned star Will Smith the Best Actor Oscar. He follow that up co-writing and directing 2024’s Bob Marley: One Love. His credits also include the TV series We Own This City and Netflix’s Top Boy.
His debut feature, Monsters and Men starring John David Washington, Anthony Ramos and Kelvin Harrison Jr., world premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival.
He’s now working on Sky’s TV adaptation The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, on which he directs and executive produces.
“Having this kind of guidance from an established filmmaker like Rei is an incredible opportunity for our students and recent alumni as they navigate their first steps in the industry,” says Andrew Okpeaha MacLean, chair of the Tisch Department of Graduate Film.
Below are more details on this year’s fellows, per Office Hours:
ALEX JIANG
Alex Jiang is a Hong Kong-born, New York-based filmmaker exploring bodily autonomy and queer desire through folklore and a feminist, Asian diasporic lens. A USC BFA graduate and NYU Tisch MFA candidate, her shorts have screened at Palm Springs ShortFest, Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival and Taiwan International Queer Film Festival. She participated in the Shanghai International Film Festival Director’s Lab and Diverso Fellowship and is a member of the 2026 Film at Lincoln Center Artists Academy. As a producer, she is developing Circle, one of 12 projects selected for the 15th Biennale College Cinema.
MAISSA LIHEDHEB
Maissa Lihedheb is a German-Tunisian filmmaker whose work explores identity, performance and the contradictions of belonging through dark humor and emotionally charged storytelling. Her films have screened at Tribeca, BFI London, Palm Springs ShortFest and El Gouna. Her work has been featured by Vogue Arabia, Rolling Stone MENA, ARTE and Highsnobiety. A two-time Ang Lee Scholar, Spike Lee Grant recipient and Princess Grace honoree, she completed her MFA at NYU Tisch Graduate Film and is currently developing the feature films Wedding and a Funeral, Carapace and The Good One.
SKYLA PAGE
Skyla Page is a writer, director and cinematographer from Chicago, now based in Brooklyn. She earned her MFA from NYU Tisch Graduate Film. As a cinematographer, she received the Nestor Almendros Craft Award for Cinematography, and her work has screened at the First Run and Atlanta Film Festivals. She received the Spike Lee Production Fund for her upcoming short Rise & Fly and is currently developing her debut narrative feature, Full Bloom.
ANDRE SHEN
Andre Shen is a Shanghainese writer-director and graphic designer based in New York. His work explores queer longing and emotional exposure through pop culture, orbiting an obsession with performance across gender, theater and sex. His films have screened at BFI Flare, MiXMilano and FiveFilmsForFreedom in partnership with the British Council. His upcoming short Hit It Out of the Park follows a rising pop star and his self-proclaimed creative director as their music video shoot unravels. He is currently preparing his feature.
TAYLOR SANGHYUN LEE
Born and raised in California, Taylor Sanghyun Lee is a New York-based filmmaker whose work spans writing, directing and cinematography. His directorial debut feature, ROUNDS, was selected for the 2026 Sundance Directors & Screenwriters Lab, the 2026 NYU Purple List and the 2025 TIFF & CJ K-Story Fund. He earned his MFA in Directing from NYU Tisch Graduate Film, where he received the Ang Lee Scholarship. His upcoming short Parkside East won the 2026 DGA Student Spotlight Award and was a semifinalist for the 2026 Student Academy Awards.
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Animation has never been bigger or more difficult to pin down. In the past year alone, a K-pop-fueled Netflix phenomenon swept the Oscars, a Chinese sequel became the highest-grossing animated film of all time and a stick-figure animator built an audience of 34 million-plus without ever setting foot in a studio. Meanwhile, a family of Australian blue heelers is teaching parents around the world how to raise their kids. Animation’s center of gravity isn’t just shifting — it’s multiplying.
THR
Which is why The Hollywood Reporter is launching its first-ever Animation Power List, a representative snapshot of the most important and influential figures working in animation today, across film, television and online.
Box office and ratings matter, of course, and plenty of the names here have the billions to prove it. But commercial success is only part of the equation. We also weighed the more subjective, harder-to-quantify question of influence: Who is setting the aesthetic agenda, shaping the business models, launching new talent or simply making the rest of the industry look over its shoulder? We tried to strike a balance, pairing the studio heads and A-list directors who steer the biggest projects with the character designers, animators, FX supervisors and art directors whose craft, all too often, goes unsung.
This is a snapshot, not a definitive ranking or a comprehensive census. In a business this big and this global, someone is bound to have been unjustly left off. To those we missed: We’re sorry, we’re big fans and there’s always next year. Consider this an opening sketch.
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Eric Bauza
Image Credit: Storm-Santos Voice Actor (Coyote vs. Acme, Teen Titans Go!)
Bauza has quietly become the voice of an entire cartoon universe. One of the successors to the legendary Mel Blanc as the voice of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Marvin the Martian and a dozen more iconic characters, the Canadian actor outdid himself with Coyote vs. Acme, voicing everything from Bugs Bunny to Foghorn Leghorn and Tweety Bird. Says Bauza: “A lot of talented folks worked really hard to make this film, and to be able to see it celebrated by so many people across the globe has really made the wait worth it.”
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Alan Becker, aka Noogai
Animator/Influencer
Becker built an empire out of stick figures. The self-taught animator behind Animator vs. Animation — known to 34 million-plus YouTube subscribers as Noogai — Becker turned a scrappy Flash experiment into a launchpad for a new kind of animation career, one built on tutorials, software tools and brand collaborations rather than a studio contract.
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Eric Beckman
Image Credit: Leon Bennett/Getty Images CEO, GKIDS
Beckman has brought international indie animation to the American mainstream, from The Secret of Kells and The Breadwinner to the Studio Ghibli catalog. GKIDS has built an audience, and an awards platform, for non-Hollywood animation, creating a sustainable distribution model for ambitious features made outside the major studios.
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Kristine Belson & Damien de Froberville
Image Credit: SonyPicturesAnimation Presidents, Sony Pictures Animation
Sony Pictures Animation’s presidents are having a moment. Belson oversaw the development and production of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Sony’s first best animated feature Oscar winner, then, after de Froberville joined as president in 2025, conquered the world with KPop Demon Hunters. The duo say their proudest moment of 2026 is the commercial success of sports comedy GOAT: “Seeing audiences embrace an original story with such a distinctive point of view has been enormously gratifying.”
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Brad Bird
Director (The Incredibles, Iron Giant, Ray Gunn)
Bird doesn’t make small movies. The Oscar-winning director has spent decades proving animation can carry the same emotional and visual weight as any big-budget tentpole. After stints at Pixar and Disney, Bird returned to original feature animation this year with sci-fi noir Ray Gunn for Netflix, a passion project 30 years in the making.
Brad Bird’s Ray Gunn hits theaters Dec. 4 and will be available on Netflix on Dec. 18.
Skydance Animation/Netflix
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Jared Bush
Image Credit: Disney Animation Studios Chief Creative Officer, Walt Disney Animation Studios
Bush has become a key creative force shaping the next phase of Disney Animation. Under his leadership, the studio is expanding established franchises while developing new original features, including the upcoming Hexed. His latest effort behind the camera, on Zootopia 2, which grossed $1.87 billion worldwide, wasn’t too shabby either.
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Enrico Casarosa
Image Credit: Deborah Coleman / Pixar Director (Luca, Gatto)
Italian-born auteur Casarosa first caught the world’s attention with the lyrical Pixar short La Luna, a visual poem about family rituals set against a moonlit seascape. Casarosa’s style, which brings the warmth, looseness and imperfection of hand-drawn illustration into 3D animation, will be on full display in his upcoming feature, the animated gangster comedy Gatto. The film will be Pixar’s big spring release of 2027.
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Arden Cho, May Hong & Ji-young Yoo
Image Credit: Courtesy of Netflix Voice Actors (KPop Demon Hunters)
In 2025, KPop Demon Hunters didn’t just become Netflix’s biggest movie of all time, it also turned Cho, Hong and Yoo, as Rumi, Mira and Zoey of fictional K-pop girl group Huntrix, into a genuine voice-cast phenomenon (with EJAE, Audrey Nuna and Rei Ami singing the Huntrix tracks). Cho’s combination of confidence and vulnerability, Hong’s sardonic self-assurance, and Yoo’s playful energy and comic timing combine into a chemistry that couldn’t have worked without all three.
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Sean Clarke
Image Credit: Aardman Animations Managing Director, Aardman Animations
Clarke runs the studio that refuses to give up the clay. As managing director of Aardman Animations, he’s kept the British stop-motion house behind Wallace & Gromit, Shaun the Sheep and Chicken Run in business without losing the handmade charm that’s kept audiences coming back for decades (Aardman celebrates its 50th anniversary this year). What would Clarke love to have made in the past year? “It would have to be Toy Story 5,” he says. “I worked at Disney when the first film was released and thought it was groundbreaking both in terms of its technique and storytelling.”
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Pierre Coffin
Image Credit: Alex J. Berliner/ABImages Director (Despicable Me, Minions)
The French director and co-creator of Despicable Me — who came up with the Minions’ multilingual nonsense language and still voices all the little yellow men — has built one of the world’s most successful animated franchises on slapstick timing and character design alone. Coffin continues to develop new animated concepts, but the Minions remain his calling card. Banana!
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Margie Cohn
Image Credit: Alex J. Berliner/ABImages) President, DreamWorks Animation
Since taking over as president in 2019, Cohn has pushed DreamWorks toward a broader creative slate and greater stylistic diversity, supporting films such as The Wild Robot. She has argued for a studio without a single house style, emphasizing distinctive filmmaker-driven approaches across both original films and established franchises.
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Joel Crawford, Januel Mercado
Image Credit: Music-Factory Directors (Forgotten Island)
Crawford and Mercado have been creative collaborators since meeting as storyboard artists on Kung Fu Panda 2, their shared sensibility for broad comedy, kinetic action and character-driven storytelling finding expression in their work together on The Croods: A New Age and the Oscar-nominated Puss in Boots: The Last Wish. Forgotten Island, their first original feature as writers/directors, stylistically combines 3D CGI with expressive 2D shifts inspired by 1990s anime.
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Bill Damaschke
Image Credit: VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty Images President & Chief Creative Officer, Warner Bros. Pictures Animation
Damaschke is leading Warner Bros. Pictures Animation’s theatrical comeback after a turbulent stretch of shelved projects (The Day the Earth Blew Up, Coyote vs. Acme). At Annecy this year, he unveiled a new studio logo and a seven-film slate that starts with the long-awaited The Cat in the Hat feature. “[This year] marks a defining milestone for Warner Bros. Pictures Animation,” says Damaschke. “After three and a half years of building this studio from the ground up, we finally get to share what we’ve been creating with the world!”
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The Disability Loop Group
Image Credit: The Disability Loop Group Voice & Sound Artists
The collective of disabled voice actors, singers and sound artists was formed in 2025 through the Easterseals Disability Film Challenge, which advocates for disability inclusion in the entertainment industry. This year they made history on Sony Pictures Animation’s GOAT, becoming the first disability loop group to work on a major studio production. “Having so many talented, disabled voiceover artists working on GOAT was our proudest achievement,” says Nic Novicki, who set up the Disability Loop Group (and is a member) through a partnership with the EDFC.
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Jaiden Dittfach
YouTube Animator
Dittfach turned her own life into a cartoon and built an audience of more than 15 million subscribers doing it. Since launching Jaiden Animations on YouTube in 2014, she’s pioneered a format that mixes autobiographical storytelling with whimsical illustration, expanding from web series into merchandise, live events and brand collaborations — proof of how far creator-driven animation can travel.
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Pete Docter
Image Credit: Deborah Coleman / Pixar) Chief Creative Officer, Pixar Animation Studios
With three Oscars and a body of work that has redefined what emotional storytelling can look like in animation, Docter needs no introduction. As Pixar’s chief creative officer since 2018, he’s overseen the studio’s next wave, balancing new voices and IP — with the likes of Elio and Hoppers — with careful curation of the studio’s blockbuster franchises.
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Jennifer Dodge
Image Credit: Paramount Animation President, Paramount Animation
Since taking over Paramount Animation in January, amid the shake-up that accompanied the studio’s $8 billion merger with Skydance, Dodge has quickly moved to build her own slate, drawing on the experience, at PAW Patrol producer Spin Master, of developing, producing and expanding global franchises. She has moved forward with a wide range of new titles, including Robert Rodriguez’s original Christmas feature The Naughty List, Dan Trachtenberg’s animated horror comedy Freddy the 13th and Bollywood-set animated musical Diya from Nitya Mehra.
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Holly Edwards
Image Credit: Alex J. Berliner/ABImages President, Skydance Animation
Edwards joined Skydance in 2019 after two decades at DreamWorks working on such global juggernauts as Kung Fu Panda and How to Train Your Dragon. Under her watch, Skydance’s Swapped became one of Netflix’s biggest animated hits, while Brad Bird’s Ray Gunn, also released by Netflix, is leading this season’s awards conversation.
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Matt Groening
Image Credit: ©2004 THE SIMPSONS and TCFFC ©2004FOX BROADCASTING CO. Creator (The Simpsons, Futurama)
Groening changed what animation could be on American television, and The Simpsons is still proving it. The longest-running primetime scripted series in TV history hit its 800th episode in February and, thanks to Disney+’s library of all 37 completed seasons, a new generation is being introduced to Bart, Maggie, Lisa, Marge and Homer. (A new Simpsons film is set for 2027.) What Groening did for the family sitcom, he repeated for sci-fi with Futurama, which is set to finish its revived Hulu run with three extended specials next year, and with fantasy with Disenchantment on Netflix. Animation’s living legend says he is not worried about an AI-dominated future. “I, for one, welcome our new A.I. overlords,” Groening says. “I’d like to remind them that, as a trusted TV personality, I can be helpful in rounding up others to toil in their underground data caves.”
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Jorge R. Gutierrez
Image Credit: Vivien Killilea/Getty Images for IMDb Director (Maya and the Three)
Gutierrez has spent his career putting Mexican folklore front and center in his animation, from the Guillermo del Toro-produced feature The Book of Life to Netflix’s Maya and the Three. Now he’s bringing that sensibility to Speedy Gonzales, the Warner Bros. Pictures Animation feature he is developing to reimagine the classic Looney Tunes character for a modern, more culturally attuned audience.
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Mark Henn
Image Credit: Photofest 2D Animator
Henn’s fingerprints are on some of the most iconic hand-drawn characters in Disney history — Ariel, Belle, Aladdin, Mulan — and he has been a key figure in linking the studio’s 2D past with its CGI present, serving as consultant on projects from Frozen to Big Hero 6 to Ralph Breaks the Internet.
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Takeshi Honda
Image Credit: Courtesy of GKIDS Animation Director (Neon Genesis Evangelion, The Boy and the Heron)
Honda is the animator’s animator, equally adept at crafting epic action sequences — see his work on the Neon Genesis Evangelion series — and subtle, emotional scenes with delicate human figures, a trait the great Hayao Miyazaki relied on when he brought Honda in as animation director on his 2024 Oscar winner The Boy and the Heron.
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Mike Judge
Creator (Beavis and Butt-Head, King of the Hill)
Judge has been animation’s sharpest cultural barometer since Beavis and Butt-Head first premiered on MTV back in the early ’90s. But his animation legacy arguably sits on the shoulders of King of the Hill, the Texas-set family comedy, rebooted last year, which somehow manages to bridge the political divide while being heartfelt and deeply funny.
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Maggie Kang & Chris Appelhans
Image Credit: The Chosunilbo JNS/Imazins via Getty Images Directors (KPop Demon Hunters)
Kang and Appelhans cemented their arrival as major animation players with 2025 phenom KPop Demon Hunters, which combined American 3D CGI style with elements of anime and Korean aeni to become a two-time Oscar winner and Netflix’s most watched film of all time.
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Jin Kim
Image Credit: Courtesy of Jin Kim/Disney Character Designer (Frozen, Zootopia)
Kim worked on Elsa’s visual development in Frozen and supervised character design on Big Hero 6. His work across Wreck-It Ralph and Moana, Zootopia, Encanto, Strange World and more helped define Disney’s contemporary approach to characters. As the first Korean animator to work at Disney, his career also marked an important opening for Korean artists at the studio.
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Travis Knight
Image Credit: Roy Rochlin/Getty Images President & CEO, Laika
Knight has pushed stop-motion into spectacular new territory through 3D-printed facial animation and elaborate action, earning Oscar nominations for producing The Boxtrolls and directing Kubo and the Two Strings and Missing Link. His new feature, Wildwood, promises to take stop-motion places it’s never been before.
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Hikaru Kondo
Image Credit: Koyoharu Gotouge/Sony Pictures Releasing/Courtesy Everett Collection CEO, Ufotable
Kondo has overseen Ufotable’s transformation into one of anime’s most globally recognized names. The 2020 release Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba — The Movie: Mugen Train was Japan’s highest-grossing film ever, taking in more than $500 million worldwide, a feat topped by 2025’s Infinity Castle, which has earned more than $790 million, confirming anime’s arrival in the global mainstream.
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Anthony Leo
CEO, Cartoon Saloon
Leo hasn’t changed much about the animation being done at the Kilkenny-based studio set up by Tomm Moore, Nora Twomey and Paul Young back in 1999. The outfit behind Oscar nominees The Secret of Kells, Song of the Sea and Wolfwalkers is still making hand-drawn tales steeped in the stories and aesthetics of Celtic folklore. Leo has been expanding its global reach, forging co-production deals with the likes of Netflix and Apple TV.
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Phil Lord & Chris Miller
Image Credit: Eric Charbonneau/Getty Images Producers & Directors (The Lego Movie, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse)
Lord and Miller have helped rewrite the rules of mainstream CG animation, with pop culture savvy and an anarchic approach to visual storytelling, from Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs and The Lego Movie to the groundbreaking, Oscar-winning Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, which pushed animation pipelines and comic book aesthetics further than most thought possible.
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Filippo Maccari
Image Credit: Filippo Maccari FX Supervisor, Sony Pictures Imageworks
Maccari’s visual effects work has powered some of the decade’s most striking animated films, from the Oscar-winning Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and its sequel, to KPop Demon Hunters. His command of particle simulation, lighting and compositing turns ambitious director visions into fully realized worlds.
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Seth MacFarlane
Image Credit: Pamela-Littky Creator & EP (Family Guy, American Dad!)
MacFarlane built a media empire out of Family Guy, American Dad! and, through his Fuzzy Door banner, a willingness to push every boundary in sight. Family Guy premiered its 24th season on Fox this year, with a milestone 450th episode, and American Dad! hit 400. “I’m really not involved over there. I should probably send them a taco truck or something,” quips MacFarlane.
Ted: The Animated Series, a spin-off of MacFarlane’s feature film franchise, hits Peacock Dec. 17, and he has a new Family Guy spinoff, Stewie, which received a two-season order for Fox and Hulu, starting for the 2027-28 season. As a voiceover artist, MacFarlane has a record-tying four Emmy wins for outstanding voiceover performance. But his proudest work achievement of the past year? “Despite all the temptation, never even coming close to starting a podcast.”
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Vivienne Medrano, aka VivziePop
Image Credit: Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images for Prime Video Animator (Hazbin Hotel, Helluva Boss)
Medrano, aka VivziePop, has become one of the breakout creators of the online animation boom, turning her self-produced 2019 YouTube pilot for Hazbin Hotel into a global adult animation franchise, partnering with A24 and Bento Box Entertainment to turn it into a Prime Video series. At Annecy, Medrano announced she will make her feature debut with Prehistoria, an original animated musical, which Warner Bros. will produce.
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Chris Meledandri
Image Credit: Alex J. Berliner/ABImages Founder & CEO, Illumination
Meledandri has built Illumination Entertainment into one of the industry’s most profitable animation studios on the back of hits from Despicable Me and Minions to Sing and The Super Mario Bros. Movie. Meledandri’s cost-efficient, data-driven production model has kept the studio’s development cycles fast and its merchandising machine humming, while still providing space for individual creative expression.
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Yvett Merino
Image Credit: Dan Abraham Producer (Moana 2, Zootopia 2, Hexed)
Merino made animation history by becoming the first Latina producer to win the Oscar for best animated feature (Encanto), and the first animation producer ever to have back-to-back billion-dollar hits (with Moana 2 and Zootopia 2). Disney’s hit machine is looking to continue her run with the upcoming original film Hexed, which comes out in November.
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Hannah Minghella
Image Credit: Hannah-Minghella Head, Netflix Animation
Minghella oversaw Netflix’s biggest-ever animated hit with two-time Oscar winner KPop Demon Hunters, produced with Sony Pictures Animation, and helped shepherd through the summer hit Swapped and Brad Bird’s Ray Gunn, both with Skydance. Her upcoming slate includes Steps, a revisionist take on Cinderella, and the Roald Dahl spinoff Charlie vs. the Chocolate Factory.
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Hayao Miyazaki
Image Credit: Photo by Steve Granitz/WireImage Director (Spirited Away, The Boy and the Heron)
Miyazaki, the great master of Japanese animation and co-founder of Studio Ghibli, has built, after only perhaps Walt Disney, animation’s most influential body of work. Miyazaki films have set a global standard for lush hand-drawn animation, richly painted backgrounds and worlds that balance fantasy with deeply human stories. Officially retired or not, Miyazaki’s influence on the medium remains enormous.
Japanese animation legend Hayao Miyazaki hired veteran Takeshi Honda for The Boy and the Heron, which won the best animated feature Oscar in 2024.
Courtesy of Toho
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Manabu Otsuka
Image Credit: Daniel Zuchnik/Getty Images for Sony Pictures CEO, MAPPA
Since becoming president of MAPPA in 2016, Otsuka has built the Japanese anime studio into a global powerhouse, with such crossover hits as Jujutsu Kaisen and Chainsaw Man, whose feature spinoff Chainsaw Man — The Movie: Reze Arc, directed by Tatsuya Yoshihara, was a surprise cross over hit, earning more than $43 million domestically and $162 million worldwide. MAPPA marked its 15th anniversary this year with an expanded strategic partnership with Netflix aimed at developing and distributing new anime globally.
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Nick Park
Image Credit: ©MattCrockett Director (Wallace & Gromit, Chicken Run)
Park’s painstakingly crafted Oscar-winning shorts — Creature Comforts, The Wrong Trousers and A Close Shave — turned Aardman Animations’ handmade aesthetic into an international signature, while Chicken Run, co-directed with Peter Lord, showed that clay animation could power a major theatrical feature, grossing more than $220 million worldwide. Park remains an executive director at Aardman, where his influence extends through a generation of animators. On the subject of AI, Park is measured but firm: “We at Aardman must stick to our values. It will always be about the human touch for us.”
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Trey Parker & Matt Stone
Image Credit: Leon Bennett/Getty Images Creators (South Park)
Parker and Stone rewired adult animation with South Park, pioneering a rapid production model that allows the show to turn around topical satire while events are still unfolding. That approach has taken on new relevance in the Trump era, as the series has repeatedly used its speed and anything-goes irreverence to tackle Trump, his administration, political polarization, media pressure and the increasingly blurred line between politics and spectacle.
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Daley Pearson & Charlie Aspinwall
Image Credit: Charlie Aspinwall, Daley Pearson Co-Founders/Directors, Ludo Studio
Pearson and Aspinwall’s Ludo Studio turned an Australian blue heeler into a global children’s entertainment phenomenon with Bluey, whose warm, sharply observed depiction of family life has earned two International Emmy Awards and made the Brisbane-based studio one of Australia’s most successful animation exporters. A special mention has to go to Bluey creator Joe Brumm, who stepped away from the series in 2024 to focus on the upcoming Bluey movie, set to hit theaters Aug. 6, 2027.
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Marc du Pontavice
Image Credit: Sameer AL-DOUMY / AFP via Getty Images Founder, Xilam
Du Pontavice built Xilam into one of Europe’s most durable animation exporters, launching the French studio in the mid-1990s and steering it toward family-friendly slapstick hits like Oggy and the Cockroaches and Zig & Sharko, as well as the Oscar-nominated I Lost My Body and Zack Snyder’s Norse mythology series Twilight of the Gods for Netflix.
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Marci Proietto
Image Credit: Courtesy of Subject Head, 20th TV Animation
Proietto’s tenure has been defined by extending the commercial life of animation’s biggest franchises across broadcast and streaming: In 2025, she helped secure unprecedented four-season renewals for The Simpsons, Family Guy and Bob’s Burgers, while bringing American Dad! back to Fox through the 2028-29 season. Says Proietto: “After 30 years in the business, getting to work alongside the best teams in animation is, hands down, what I’m proudest of.”
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Chris & Shannon Prynoski
Co-Founders, President and Co-President, Titmouse
Chris and Shannon Prynoski turned a T-shirt company they launched in 2000 into Titmouse, one of the most distinctive independent forces in contemporary animation. From Metalocalypse to The Legend of Vox Machina, the Prynoskis have built a studio, now with more than 700 employees in L.A., New York, Vancouver and Paris, that has repeatedly given animators room to experiment across styles, genres and platforms, proving that an animation company can operate at scale without adopting a conventional studio identity.
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Rahul Purini
Image Credit: Crunchyroll President, Crunchyroll
Once a niche anime streaming service, Crunchyroll, under Purini’s leadership, has become a major force in the U.S. entertainment business and done more than pretty much anyone else to bring Japanese animation directly into the American mainstream. Crunchyroll’s release of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba — Infinity Castle became the highest-grossing anime film ever in the U.S., earning more than $136 million stateside.
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Chris Sanders
Image Credit: Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images Director (The Wild Robot, Lilo & Stitch)
Sanders has helped shape mainstream animation for four decades, from story work on Disney classics including Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin to writing and directing Lilo & Stitch and How to Train Your Dragon. A four-time Oscar nominee, Sanders has shown that big-studio animation can combine commercial appeal with adventurous design and deeply emotional storytelling.
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Brad Schiff
Image Credit: Courtesy of Laika Head of Animation, Laika
Schiff oversees Laika’s stop-motion pipeline, the one responsible for Coraline, ParaNorman and the eagerly anticipated fantasy epic Wildwood. His work, pairing painstaking practical craftsmanship with newer tools like 3D-printed facial rigs, keeps Laika’s tactile, handmade identity intact even as the studio pushes into hybrid CGI territory.
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Matt Selman
Image Credit: © Frank Micelotta/FOX Showrunner (The Simpsons)
Seven-time Emmy winner Selman came up writing for Seinfeld before landing at the show he now runs day-to-day, charged with keeping its satirical edge and protecting its legacy. “You don’t want to be the person who ruins The Simpsons,” he notes. Four decades in, he still sounds like a fan: “I’m so very, very, very proud that the writers of this 40-year-old show are still whipping up weird, funny, deep, surprising stories that are worthy of these iconic characters.”
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Domee Shi
Image Credit: Deborah Coleman / Pixar Director (Turning Red, Elio)
Shi has risen through the Pixar ranks, starting as a story intern, working on Inside Out, Incredibles 2 and Toy Story 4, before writing and directing the Oscar-winning short Bao in 2019. Shi is now a Pixar vp creative, involved in key creative decisions across the studio.
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Makoto Shinkai
Image Credit: Courtesy of Suzume Film Partners Director (Your Name., Suzume)
Shinkai has turned hyper-detailed backgrounds and aching romantic longing into box office gold, with Your Name. and Suzume both breaking records in Japan and helping spark a broader global anime moment. His meticulous, digitally driven visual style and commercial success won over Crunchyroll, which has picked up worldwide rights outside Asia and India to his next, unnamed feature.
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Nishimoto Shu
President, Aniplex
Nishimoto oversees an anime giant whose portfolio includes major franchises such as Demon Slayer, Fate and Sword Art Online, alongside games, theatrical distribution, licensing, merchandise and live events. Under Nishimoto, Aniplex is putting greater emphasis on international markets, working with Crunchyroll on global distribution.
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Andrew Stanton
Image Credit: Deborah Coleman / Pixar Director (WALL-E, Finding Nemo, Toy Story 5)
A four-time Oscar winner, Stanton has spent more than three decades at Pixar as a writer, director and creative force behind some of the studio’s most influential films. After his triumphant animated return with Toy Story 5, Stanton has said he wants to shift his focus to live action, but will keep a foot in Pixar, if only to help protect up-and-coming talents, like Daniel Chong, whose debut, Hoppers, Stanton helped defend against studio skeptics.
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Barbara Stephen
Image Credit: Babara Stephen CEO, Flying Bark
Stephen has helped transform Flying Bark Productions from an Australian children’s animation company into an international production powerhouse, combining original productions with animation services for global partners including Disney, Marvel, Netflix, Paramount and Nickelodeon. On AI, she takes a pragmatic view. “To me, the role of all emerging technologies is as a tool in service of the craft, to find real efficiencies in the pipeline, free up our crew to focus on higher-value work and facilitate more original storytelling,” she says.
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Tara Strong
Image Credit: Tara Strong Voice Actor (The Powerpuff Girls, Teen Titans Go!, Samurai Jack)
Strong is animation’s woman of a thousand voices, a prolific performer who has helped define the sound of multiple generations of animated characters, from Bubbles of The Powerpuff Girls and Twilight Sparkle in My Little Pony, to Batgirl, Raven and Harley Quinn in the DC animated universe.
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Toshio Suzuki
Image Credit: Walt Disney/Courtesy Everett Collection Chairman, Studio Ghibli
Suzuki has spent his tenure as Studio Ghibli’s chairman protecting the studio’s handcrafted legacy while still finding room to grow — expanding into digital distribution and international collaboration without diluting what made classics like Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke and Howl’s Moving Castle work in the first place.
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Genndy Tartakovsky
Image Credit: Genndy Tartakovsky Director & Creator (Hotel Transylvania, Samurai Jack)
Tartakovsky created Samurai Jack and the Hotel Transylvania franchise on the strength of a kinetic visual style and sharp comedic instincts that have carried through decades of work, including Dexter’s Laboratory and Primal. He’s now developing an animated Conan the Barbarian series for Prime Video, as executive producer and showrunner, that promises to bring the legendary swordsman into a fresh, action-driven format.
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Ami Thompson
Image Credit: Courtesy of Disney Art Director (KPop Demon Hunters, Raya and the Last Dragon)
As an art director, Thompson’s distinctive strength is her ability to combine characters and visual influences from very different worlds into a unified, graphic identity, whether that’s bringing together Disney princesses from multiple eras into a contemporary 3D aesthetic on Ralph Breaks the Internet or her bold mashup of K-pop glamour, anime-influenced character design and Korean mythology and shamanism on KPop Demon Hunters.
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Jae-myung Yoo
CEO, Studio Mir
Yoo has built Studio Mir into one of Korea’s most prominent animation studios for international productions, working on Nickelodeon’s The Legend of Korra and Voltron: Legendary Defender for DreamWorks and Netflix and on Netflix’s The Witcher animated spinoffs. He has used Mir’s blend of 2D animation craft and CGI production to move the studio from an overseas production partner toward a creator and production company in its own right.
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Fumio Yoshimura
Image Credit: Netflix President & CEO, Toei Co.
Yoshimura has led Toei Co., the parent company of Toei Animation, as president and CEO since 2023, bringing a background in content, media and international business to the company behind some of Japan’s most enduring entertainment franchises. His remit extends beyond animation to Toei’s film, television and live-entertainment operations, while Toei Animation remains the engine behind global properties including One Piece, Dragon Ball and Sailor Moon.
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Yang Yu
Image Credit: Courtesy of A24 Director (Ne Zha 2)
Better known as Jiaozi, Yang directed Ne Zha 2, the Chinese animated sequel that became a global box office phenomenon in 2025, earning $2.27 billion at the box office to become the most successful animated movie in history. (Disney’s Zootopia 2, Hollywood’s top earner, is a distant second at $1.87 billion.) Unlike Japanese anime, Chinese animation hasn’t yet made the leap to mainstream success in the West, but with these numbers, it’s not clear why it needs to.
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Gints Zilbalodis
Image Credit: Gints Zilbalodis Director (Flow)
Zilbalodis turned an intimate, dialogue-free survival story into one of animation’s most unlikely recent breakthroughs with Flow, his independently produced feature about a cat navigating a world submerged by a catastrophic flood. Made mainly in Latvia on Blender, a free and open-source 3D graphics software, Flow won the 2025 best animated feature Oscar, becoming the first independent film to take the prize (as well as the first-ever Latvian Oscar). Zilbalodis is already chasing that same spirit of risk on his follow-up. “I’ve been working on my new film Limbo,” he says. “With my team, we have been challenging ourselves to try some crazy ideas and to do things in very unconventional ways, which have been scary, but also very rewarding.”
This story appeared in the Oct. 7 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.
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